Chronicle on Cuba - June 2009

Economy

June 1: The Cuban government will cut power supplies to companies and organizations that do not observe the "exceptional measures" set to take effect on June 1 to save fuel and relieve the deteriorating economy of the communist-ruled island. Havana's director of economy and planning, Jorge Luis Villa, said that each enterprise has a plan for using electricity whose observance "conditions" whether it may continue to consume energy, the official weekly Tribuna de La Habana said. "The government could decide to cut off electricity to those who do not comply and who will then have to give an accounting of the deficiencies detected," Villa said. General Raul Castro's government announced "exceptional measures" for reducing the consumption of electricity and warned of a return to blackouts if the goal isn't achieved. The plan includes closing at 6:00 p.m. all enterprises that do not provide goods or services directly to the public. Amusement parks will also cut back on the hours they are open, the use of air conditioning will be limited to five hours a day, and cold storage facilities will be disconnected for two hours a day. The use of electric ovens is banned from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in bakeries and some industries, while sanctions on consumers committing fraud will be increased (EFE, 2/6/09).

June 1: Cubans faced power blackouts, longer waits for buses, uncomfortable working conditions and skimpier lunches as the government introduced austerity measures to cope with a growing economic squeeze. The measures followed two weeks of warnings by the Communist-run government that it could not meet rising electricity demand due to a cash crunch that has forced it to restructure debt and put off payments to foreign businesses. All provincial governments and most state-run offices and factories, which encompasses 90 percent of Cuba's economic activity, were ordered to reduce energy consumption by a minimum of 12 percent or face mandatory electricity cuts. The state-monopolized retail sector and many government offices were ordered to keep air conditioners turned off until 1:30 p.m., turn off some lights and shut off freezers for at least two hours a day, local media reported over the weekend. Long lines formed at bus stops in Havana as the number of bus runs were cut, and trains between the capital and provinces were reduced by a minimum of 50 percent, although more passenger cars were added to each trip. Food allocations for lunches and snacks at most state workplaces were cut by 50 percent, except for workers in heavy industries like mining and construction, food industry sources said. "Everyone is worried and talking about how bad it might get, and if the blackouts are back," a Havana resident who works for the power sector said. Cubans typically get free state-provided meals when accompanying hospitalized relatives, but the new rules put a stop to that, except for people traveling from out of town, hospital sources in Havana said. A US businessman who sells meat products to the Cuban government under an exemption to a US trade embargo, told the press, "They have cut their orders by more than 50 percent for the rest of the year" (Reuters, 1/6/09)

Junio 2: Cuba tiene sólo tres de sus 15 puertos comerciales trabajando "de manera estable", por una disminución de buques y mercancías, como consecuencia de la crisis económica internacional, informaron dirigentes del sector. "Hemos tenido menos barcos, y cuanto menos barcos recibamos, por supuesto, menos ingresos vamos a tener (...) además del impacto de recibir mucho menos carga que en períodos anteriores", declaró a la televisión oficial Lázaro González, director de la Asociación Portuaria de Cuba. Los puertos que están trabajando establemente son los de La Habana, Santiago de Cuba y Cienfuegos, los más importantes de la isla (AFP, 2/6/09).

June 2: The Cuban-Venezuelan fishing venture of the Bolivarian Alternative for the America (ALBA) began operating already, with two tuna fishing boats, the Venezuelan Agriculture and Land Ministry informed. The project is part of the ALBA food programs, and the two boats are the first of a fishing plan looking toward food security, one of the objectives of President Hugo Chavez's government. As part of cooperation in the sector, Venezuelan fishermen and aquaculture workers returned to their country after taking an intense course in Cuba on fishing management, environment, and business management (Prensa Latina, 2/6/09).

June 2: CUBALSE, Cuba's main supplier of goods and services to foreign residents, tourists and diplomats, will be terminated by late August, a news agency reported, citing an unpublished decree from the Council of Ministers. "With the objective of reducing costs, increasing the power of negotiation, concentrating the work of the entities that furnish services, and achieving greater efficiency and dependability, it becomes necessary to shut down the enterprise," the decree says, according to the AP. The decree, dated May 26, says that the liquidation of CUBALSE and the transfer of its activities and goods to other state-run companies must be completed within 90 days. Its gasoline stations will be turned over to Cuba Petróleos, while its restaurant services and car providers will go to the CIMEX Corporation.Real-estate rental offices and the agencies that provide employees for foreigners will go to Palace of Conventions Enterprises. Wholesale merchandisers will be handled by Almacenes Universales. CUBALSE, short for Cuba al Servicio del Extranjero(Cuba at the Service of Foreigners), was established in 1974 from what had been the Service Enterprise for the Diplomatic Corps. (The Miami Herald, 2/6/09).

Junio 3: Una manada de búfalos salvajes se ha convertido en la pesadilla de los campesinos de la provincia cubana de Pinar del Río, porque invaden y devoran cultivos de tabaco y hortalizas sin que las autoridades hayan podido detenerlos, informa el diario oficial Granma. Decenas de agricultores han decidido "no participar en la próxima campaña de tabaco si no hay garantías para sus plantaciones'', mientras otros pasan la noche "espantando'' a los animales para "lograr algo'' en sus terrenos, indica el periódico, portavoz del gobernante Partido Comunista. ''Las pérdidas nos impiden cubrir nuestros compromisos (...). Hoy tenemos atraso en la contratación para la próxima cosecha. La gente se niega, pues teme no poder cumplir'', afirmó el presidente de una cooperativa, Casimiro García, citado por el diario. El drama de los búfalos comenzó después de que en 1987 un grupo de 26 animales fue liberado en las sabanas del sur de Pinar del Río, a unos 175 kilómetros al oeste de La Habana. Los bóvidos se reprodujeron de manera salvaje, se fueron desplazando en busca de alimentos y ahora se calcula que de 10,000 a 12,000 pastan por el campo a sus anchas. ''El escaso control, además de limitar la explotación, ha creado en torno al búfalo una imagen de agresividad y destrucción'', precisa Granma, y añade que "la lentitud de las respuestas hace que el costo de la solución sea cada día más alto''. En opinión del director del Grupo Técnico Ejecutivo del Programa de Búfalos, Santiago Brito, "serán necesarios cuatro o cinco años'' para cambiar la situación (EFE, 3/6/09).

June 4: Venezuela plans to spend $70 million on an undersea fibre optic cable to Cuba in order to improve telecommunications. President Hugo Chavez's government nationalized Venezuela's largest telephone company two years ago and has been planning to lay the undersea cable to its Caribbean ally. The government issued a statement that said Chavez has approved $70 million for the undersea cable. Venezuelan officials say the cable will run 1,555 kilometers (966 miles) and will have a capacity to handle millions of call at once, as well as television signals and Internet connections (AP, 4/6/09).

June 4: Spain's Castor Plus has formed a joint venture with the Cuban government to produce paper at a plant in the central province of Sancti Spiritus, the firm's president told the press. Castor Plus plans to invest 7 million euros ($9.9 million) initially and another 5.5 million euros ($7.8 million) later, with the goal of producing some 40,000 tons of white paper in the first year, Carmelo Zubiaur said. The firm eventually will produce nearly 100,000 tons and earn more than $104 million in annual revenue, according to a feasibility study (EFE, 4/6/09).

Junio 7: El gobierno de Raúl Castro aprobó un programa de descentralización del comercio agropecuario cubano, bajo égida estatal, que implantará experimentalmente el 1ro. de agosto en dos provincias, en busca de mayor eficiencia, informaron funcionarios del sector. En La Habana, mayor productora del país, y Ciudad de La Habana, la mayor consumidora, la comercialización estatal de productos pasará del Ministerio de Agricultura a 23 empresas (18 en La Habana y cinco en Ciudad de La Habana), las que tendrán recursos y autonomía de gestión, dijeron los funcionarios a Juventud Rebelde. La insuficiente producción agropecuaria, que obliga a gastar anualmente más de $1,500 millones en importación de alimentos, presenta crónicos problemas de organización, falta de envases y transporte, que provocan pérdidas en los productos ya cosechados. Las nuevas empresas estatales, que anunciaron contar con capital, transporte y envases suficientes, establecerán los contratos con los productores agropecuarios estatales, cooperativos y privados, para comercializar (AFP, 8/6/09).

June 8: The Cuban Government has conceived the idea of upgrading several refineries and ports to be able to process 4 million barrels per day that regional countries will need.
"Our project is intended not only to survive but also to make us self-sufficient and allow us to develop further, even if the results of the planned drillings are not the most encouraging," a CUPET engineer said. "It is a project with a future," he said. If in a 5- to-10-year period Cuba manages to raise its refinement capacity to 350,000 barrels, it would be able to shed its dependence on Venezuela. Cuba could also process crude oil from Russia, Angola, Brazil and from Cuba's own deep-sea wells. "The strategy is intelligently designed because the future of the oil sector will depend on the available capacity to refine crude oil and transform it into fuel," said Jorge R. Piñon, former president of Amoco Oil Latinoamerica and researcher at the University of Miami's Center for Hemispheric Policy (The Miami Herald, 8/6/09).

June 8: Venezuela’s shipments of crude oil and refined products to Cuba gained 32 percent in 2008. Sales to Cuba climbed by 28,000 barrels a day to 115,000 barrels a day, state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, said in an annual report on its Web site. Cuba pays for much of its Venezuelan oil through sending thousands of doctors, sports trainers and other advisers to Venezuela and its allies. Cuba received twice as much crude oil in 2008 as a year earlier as a joint venture with Venezuela restarted a refinery in the Cuban city of Cienfuegos (Bloomberg, 9/6/09).

June 9: Cuba has rolled over 200 million euros in bond issues that were due in May, as the country's central bank asked for another year to repay foreign holders of the debt, financial sources in London and Havana said. The move is yet another sign the Communist-run nation is suffering a cash crisis, as it struggles with sharp declines in revenues from tourism and key exports due to the global economic crisis. The two-year euro-denominated bonds of 150 million euros and 50 million euros that were rolled over were issued on the London Stock Exchange on May 3, 2007, at interest rates of 9 percent and 8.5 percent respectively. They were held mostly by Cuban entities, though some foreign banks with a history of providing credit to the island also participated. “Apparently the Cuban Central Bank asked one more year for repayment to these foreign entities," a European diplomat said. The statement was confirmed by one of the non-Cuban debt holders, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The issue with maturity in 2009 had been subscribed 85 percent by Cuban banks and 15 percent by foreign banks and entities," the diplomat said. The central bank, which named Ernesto Medina as its president following Francisco Soberon's resignation, has also been working to restructure some of its active debt, estimated at around $11 billion (Reuters, 9/6/09).

June 10: Oil exports are now Cuba's second leading export, overtaking pharmaceuticals, and produced $880 million in revenues in 2008, according to a Foreign Trade Ministry report. A table in the report said nickel accounted for 39 percent of exports, oil for 22 percent and pharmaceuticals 9 percent, followed by sugar and tobacco products each at 6 percent and other products 18 percent. The government reported exports, excluding tourism and other services, were $4 billion in 2008, but has yet to publish any details. Cuba consumes a minimum of 150,000 barrels per day in petroleum products, of which up to 92,000 bpd comes from regional energy giant Venezuela. The rest is pumped from the northwest coast along with natural gas for power generation. Cuba has exported small amounts of the heavy crude it produces, but this would not account for the big jump in 2008 exports, local and foreign analysts said. The analysts said a likely explanation would be exports from a joint venture refinery with Venezuela opened in December 2007, which processed 65,000 bpd in 2008 for local consumption and export to area countries (Reuters, 10/6/09).

June 10: New plans of cooperation will be discussed during the 6th Petrocaribe Summit that takes place on June 11-12, in Saint Kitts and Nevis. According to Granma news daily, participants in the meeting will not only assess advances in the field of energy cooperation but they will also analyze the design and implementation of new plans in the agriculture and food production sectors. Delegations from Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Venezuela will participate in the summit as full members of Petrocaribe while Costa Rica and El Salvador will attend the meeting as observers (ACN, 10/6/09).

June 14: Cuban factories are closing down and production is being cut at other workplaces as the international financial crisis weighs on the import-dependent Caribbean island, the official media said. A growing shortage of foreign exchange has forced the Communist-run country to drastically cut imports and local budgets, impose power quotas on state-run companies, restructure debt and put off payments to foreign suppliers. The state-run Juventud Rebelde newspaper, the only national Sunday publication, said a tire factory had shut down since February due to a lack of rubber imports while an aluminum packaging plant cut output for similar reasons. The newspaper said the plants were examples of a wider problem "in other sectors of the Cuban state company sector," which encompasses 90 percent of economic activity. Other workplaces were having difficulty obtaining spare parts, the newspaper said, and still others were being forced to scale back output after a recent government measure mandating a 12 percent reduction in power consumption (Reuters, 14/6/09).

Junio 15: Cuba is going through a "very deep and difficult" crisis due to the inefficiency of its management system, the low productivity of its workers, high unemployment among young people and the effects of global recession, economist Alfredo Jam said. "We're at a truly complex moment in our history," the recipient of Cuba's National Economics Prize said at the International Accounting, Auditing and Finance Conference that in Havana with some 400 specialists from 12 countries in attendance. He said that a high proportion of Cuba's potential workforce is not working because young people reject "jobs that give them income but no satisfaction." Jam believes that the communist-ruled island has a reserve of workers for vital sectors like agriculture and construction, but added that "people don't get moving." He added that, "wages have to stimulate efficiency" (EFE, 16/6/09).

June 15: Cuban Vice-President Esteban Lazo met with representatives of the Young Communist League (UJC), students and grassroots organizations, as well as with heads of ministries and institutions involved in recreational programs whom he urged to use energy efficiently during the coming summer. Lazo said that the organizations should offer the Cuban people, especially the youth, a vacation plenty of leisure, cultural and sports activities, but making better use of resources, savings and with austerity (ACN, 15/6/09).

June 19: Cuba received 1.2 million foreign visitors during the first five months of the year, up 2.1 percent from the same period in 2008, the government's ONE statistics office said. Tourism is holding up despite the global recession, the communist government's media outlets have been saying this week. Cuban tourism authorities say a record 2.3 million visitors came to the island last year, a gain of 9.3 percent over 2007, and they predict a total of 2.5 million tourist arrivals in 2009. Most of Cuba's tourists come from Canada, Germany, Britain, Italy, Spain, France and Mexico. The island's economy is currently struggling and tourism is looming ever larger as a vital source of hard currency (EFE, 19/6/09).

Junio 20: El proceso de distribución de terrenos estatales en usufructo a campesinos es "un reto" para el Estado y no significa privatizar las tierras, dijeron fuentes oficiales. Las áreas entregadas a los "usufructuarios" siguen siendo estatales, aseguró en rueda de prensa Adolfo Rodríguez Nodal, jefe del Programa Nacional de la Agricultura Urbana. No obstante, agregó, "estamos fortaleciendo todo tipo de propiedades en la agricultura, sin subestimar ninguna, porque lo importante es producir alimentos", precisó. Un decreto del gobierno en 2008 abrió la posibilidad a 100,000 campesinos de recibir en usufructo parcelas de hasta 26,8 hectáreas que permanecían ociosas (ANSA, 20/6/09).

Junio 20: Las autoridades deportivas de Cuba estudiarán cuánta energía se consume en un juego de béisbol y han propuesto partidos más cortos y en horario diurno para ajustarse a los planes de recorte energético que se aplican en la isla, informó el diario oficial Granma. ''Vamos a ver hasta cuánta energía eléctrica se consume en una hora de juego'', dijo el vicepresidente del Instituto Nacional de Deportes (INDER), Antonio López, quien anunció que e realizará un estudio en ese sentido en los estadios del país. López indicó que un grupo de especialistas trabajará para ‘‘verificar las pizarras y el sistema de iluminación de los estadios'', conocer cuál es "exactamente'' su consumo y buscar "variantes'' que reduzcan el gasto eléctrico, como la instalación de sistemas modernos de alumbrado (EFE, 20/6/09).

June 21: Cuba needs "to balance the economy" and promote efficiency and the search for external income given the impact of the global economic crisis affecting it, the official Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported, citing several economists. "There has to be work to balance the economy and seek internally all those mechanisms that promote efficiency and foreign income in a more accelerated manner," the economists said in an analysis of the situation confronting the communist island's economy. The article warns that the main means of transmission of the crisis such that it affects the Cuban economy is "trade," and that the fluctuations in demand and supply of goods and services and of their prices, as well as the contraction of credit, weigh on the daily life and economic activity on the island. Economy and Planning Minister Marino Murillo, one of those people consulted by the paper, said that the crisis "has complicated the obtaining of price facilities and credit sources," but he added that "nobody is going to be unprotected," although "inevitably" they will feel the restrictions on consumption (EFE, 21/6/09).

Junio 21: Sudáfrica condonará la deuda cubana a fin de impulsar el contraído comercio bilateral entre ambos países, que cayó de 50 millones de dólares a mediados de los años 90 a sólo cinco millones actualmente, informaron funcionarios de ambos países. "Se lleva a cabo la negociación final para formalizar el acuerdo de condonación por parte de Sudáfrica, del adeudo de Cuba con esa nación, lo cual facilitará que se abran nuevas puertas a los negocios bilaterales'', expresó el semanario Opciones, citando al viceministro local de Comercio e Inversiones, Ramón Ripoll. La publicación no precisó el monto del adeudo (AFP, 21/6/09).

Junio 22: Colombia está interesada en la búsqueda de petróleo en aguas cubanas del Golfo de México, lo que puede concretarse durante la visita que inicia a la isla su ministro de Minas y Energía, Hernán Martínez, informó la agencia oficial Prensa Latina.
La agencia indicó la posibilidad de que Ecopetrol "se vincule a la exploración petrolera" en la zona económica exclusiva de Cuba en el Golfo, de 112,000 km cuadrados, divididos en 59 bloques petroleros. Martínez se reunirá en La Habana con la ministra de la Industria Básica, Yadira García, "a fin de explorar áreas de interés común", señaló la agencia, tras precisar que el ministro colombiano viaja acompañado del presidente de la estatal petrolera colombiana Ecopetrol, Javier Rodríguez (AFP, 22/6/09).

June 22: Studies on the Cuban population carried out late 2008 yielded that there will be 100,000 less citizens in the country by 2025. The research led by Cuban experts showed that population growth in the Caribbean archipelago is undergoing a period of stagnation that will give way to a decline, mainly as a result of aging and decrease in births. Thus, from 2008 to 2025 the number of inhabitants will fall by a little more than 100,000 people, while experts predict that the Cuban population will be below 11 millions by 2032, Granma newspaper reported (ACN, 22/6/09).
  
Junio 22: Cuba busca impulsar la siembra del frijol, un alimento básico en la dieta local y que actualmente debe comprarse en el mercado internacional a precios elevados, indicó el periódico oficial Granma. "Tierras aptas, conocimientos técnicos, experiencias y semillas, crean el ambiente ideal para transformar una producción que jamás debió caer tanto", comentó el rotativo en un artículo. Cifras de la Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas indican que en 2004 se produjeron casi 133,000 toneladas y que en 2008 sólo se reportaron 97,000 toneladas. En tanto, la isla compra unas 60,000 toneladas de la leguminosa al año, según Granma. No mencionó precios. "La siembra y acopio del frijol, considerado uno de los platos favoritos en la mesa del cubano, eran cada vez menores y no quedó otra alternativa que acudir al mercado internacional", explicó. "Dada la situación de hoy y lo estratégico de eliminar tal dependencia, el Ministerio de la Agricultura incluyó el frijol en su abarcador programa de sustitución de importaciones", informó el periódico, que llamó a los productores a no dejar de intercalar esta producción entre otros cultivos y sostener sus dos cosechas anuales. Sin embargo, reconoció que para que los campesinos se animen se debería "estimular con precios más atractivos a los productores de base" (AP, 22/6/09).

June 23: Cuba’s energy authorities have reduced 18,000 tons of fuel destined to power generation without blackouts, Granma newspaper reported. Electricity Company official Ricardo Gonzalez confirmed the reduction regarding the increasing consumption in April and the first two weeks in May. Such equivalent fuel economy, reached thanks to a national energy saving, made blackout program to people unnecessary. Gonzalez warned on the imminent vacation months, July and August, with high temperatures and consumption of fans, air conditionings and refrigeration (Prensa Latina, 23/6/09).

Junio 25: El viceministro del Transporte Eduardo Rodríguez informó que el volumen de cargas de importación disminuyó en un 10% en el primer trimestre de 2009, lo que achacó al impacto de la crisis económica internacional. "Llegamos a la crisis después del paso de tres huracanes", más un "largo período especial" y en medio del embargo de Estados Unidos, dijo el funcionario a periodistas, y agregó que esta situación ha golpeado los proyectos de modernización del transporte marítimo. Rodríguez calificó de "seria" la afectación a la economía, e indicó que las cargas de importación operadas cayeron los tres primeros meses de este año. De acuerdo con la Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas (ONE), en 2008 se procesaron unos 17,7 millones de toneladas, un 4,6% más de 2007. El 57,4% era de importaciones, el 14,4 de exportaciones y el 28,2% de cabotaje. Rodríguez explicó que las principales mercancías compradas y transportadas son alimentos y combustibles, y destacó que la baja no fue mayor debido a la voluntad del gobierno de Raúl Castro de sostener las adquisiciones en el exterior de estos rubros para la población. El funcionario opinó que la crisis agudizó los efectos del embargo y los huracanes, que provocaron pérdidas por unos 10,000 millones de dólares, especialmente en la vivienda, la agricultura, las comunicaciones y el transporte (AP, 26/6/09).

Junio 27: Cuba debe desarrollar la agricultura a base de tracción animal para lograr ahorro de combustible, pero también tendría que mejorar el pago a los boyeros, recomendó un experto. El uso de los bueyes "en la agricultura cubana recobra el interés que jamás debió perder", escribió Juan Varela, un especialista en agro en el periódico oficial Granma.n "Los tiempos actuales de crisis financiera mundial, obligan a alternar lo moderno y lo tradicional. Nuestro país posee suficiente capacidad y experiencia para salir airoso y no dejarse vencer por los problemas y las justificaciones", agregó. Según Varela, el Ministerio de Agricultura cuenta con 265,120 bueyes "listos para trabajar", los cuales "son capaces de suplir e incluso superar a la maquinaria en infinidad de labores y cultivos" (AP, 27/6/09).

June 29: Cuba’s communist government announced new labour measures to “stimulate jobs,” enable employees to increase their income and allow most workers to have more than one job. The reforms seek “the rational use of human resources” and are included in a decree approved on June 26 by President Raul Castro and the Council of State, according to a communique published in the official media. “An important part of this ruling is linked to the rational use of human resources and hiring to ease the effects of an aging population, stimulate jobs throughout society as well as providing workers with the chance to increase their income,” the note said. “The comprehensive regulation particularly mentions the possibility of multiple employment that will allow workers, after fulfilling the duties of their main jobs, to accept other employment for the corresponding wage,” the communique said. Banned from holding second jobs are health-care personnel, researchers, educators and auditors, “except for the exercise of teaching jobs, scientific research and other undertakings that are approved by the express decision of the authority or agency that designated or chose them” (EFE, 29/6/09).

June 29: “Aceros Inoxidables” Enterprise in eastern Las Tunas province surpassed its steel bar export plan for 2008 by five percent, which represents a 37 percent growth compared to the previous year. The production of steel bars is a good source of hard currency income for the Caribbean country; therefore, raising its added value becomes a priority for the workers of this sector. This Cuban company’s products are commercialized mainly in Latin America, with high levels of profitability in its exports (ACN, 29/6/09).

June 30: Cuba's trade deficit soared by 65 percent in 2008, driven by a doubling in the value of oil imports, higher costs of food imports and a decline in key export nickel, according to a government report. Exports totaled $4 billion, similar to 2007, while imports increased 41 percent to $15.4 billion, leaving a deficit of $11.4 billion, the National Statistics Office reported on its web page. Oil-rich Venezuela saw exports to its socialist ally soar to $5.3 billion from $2.9 billion in 2007 as it increased oil shipments and prices peaked, making the South American country by far Cuba's most important commercial partner. Cuba's arch enemy, the United States, also benefited from higher prices as food exports, allowed since 2000 under its long-standing trade embargo, hit a record $860 million, compared with $608 million in 2007. Despite trade sanctions in place since 1962, the U.S. held its ranking as the island's fifth-largest trading partner. China remained Cuba's second partner at over $2 billion, followed by Spain and Canada as in recent years. The trade data has to do with the trading of goods and does not include key income sources such as tourism and the export of medical services, primarily to Venezuela (Reuters, 30/6/09).

June 30: Cuba and Portugal will strengthen bilateral economic and scientific-technical complementation and development after signing a collaboration agreement in this regard in Havana. The document was penned by Joao Gomes Cravinho, Portuguese Secretary
of State for Foreign Business and Cooperation, and Dagoberto Rodriguez Barreda, Cuban Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister. The Portuguese representative highlighted the traditional relations between the two nations and underscored their interest in increasing exchange in sectors like biotechnology, pharmaceutical industry, tourism, culture and renewable energy, field in which his country has experienced the largest growth within the European community, he said. Gomes Cravinho explained that Cuban exports to Portugal in 2008 were of the tune of 34 million euros. He added that although Portuguese exports to Cuba in the same period did not reach this figure, it was bigger than in 2007 (ACN, 30/6/09).